Apparently fed up with his team’s lack of firepower in Toronto – one shot on goal in the midweek defeat – Chivas USA Coach has replaced usual starter Eduardo Lillingston with rookie Chukwudi Chijindu, who makes his first MLS start.

The Fontana native has certainly shown more movement and speed in his limited minutes so far than the veteran Mexican forward.

Justin Braun returns from missing the last four games through injury to partner Chuckie up front. Atiba Harris drops back into midfield, displacing Bojan Stepanovic.

Lillingston, Maykel Galindo, Alecko Eskandarian and Gerson Mayen are among the options off the bench. Stepanovic is a late scratch with a left leg injury we just learned and draft pick Michael Lahoud takes his place on the bench.

Dallas has former Galaxy midfielder Marcelo Saragosa in the back four and dangerous Kenny Cooper (four goals in five games) and Andre Rocha in attack.

The omens aren’t good for the Galaxy (0-1-3) today in Colorado where they haven’t scored a goal against the Rapids (2-2-1) in more than five years, are 0-8-3 in 11 games there and haven’t beaten their opponents in two games this season.

(Updated: 9:55 a.m. – The Galaxy’s official blog is reporting this morning that striker Edson Buddle made the trip and could make his first appearance of the season tonight. More here.)

BTW, the Galaxy have put spots on the grass berm for the July 19 game against AC Milan in Carson on sale. Cost: $50.

TV: Delayed 10 p.m. FSN.

Sol Preview
The (3-0) Sol, who haven’t conceded a goal yet this season play (0-2) St. Louis Athletica, the only WPS team yet to score one.

TV: None.

The Sol are without strikers Marta, Camille Abily and Han Duan who have obligations overseas with their respective homelands this weekend.

NEW YORK (AP) — Mention those empty seats at Yankee Stadium at your own risk.

Don Garber did.

A day after the Major League Soccer commissioner raised the subject, New York Yankees president Randy Levine blasted back.

“Don Garber discussing Yankee attendance must be a joke,” Levine said Friday. “We draw more people in a year than his entire league does in a year. If he ever gets Major League Soccer into the same time zone as the Yankees, we might take him seriously.

“Hey Don, worry about Beckham, not the Yankees. Even he wants out of your league,” he said.

David Beckham has been loaned from MLS’ Los Angeles Galaxy to AC Milan through the end of the Italian Serie A season.

Speaking Thursday to the Associated Press Sports Editors, Garber said he’d noticed the unfilled seats at New York’s two new stadiums. The Yankees’ premium seats were more than half-empty for the five games following their home opener.

“It’s incomprehensible that you watch a game, and there will be front-row seats empty,” Garber said.

Told of Levine’s comments, Garber explained his remark.

“When I mentioned the New York Yankees yesterday, my comments were part of a larger assertion that all businesses — even the most successful sports entities — are experiencing some impact from the economic downturn,” Garber said through a league spokesman. “The Yankees are one of the world’s strongest sports brands and the context of my comments about a few empty seats at Yankee Stadium was to illustrate the economic challenges we are all facing,” he said.

MLS averaged 16,460 for 210 regular-season games last year, a total of 3.46 million. The Yankees averaged 53,070 last year in the final season at the old Yankee Stadium, a total of 4.3 million.

*First-place Chivas USA (4-1-1) hosts FC Dallas (1-3-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Home Depot Center in a game that’s live on KAZA and tape-delayed at 9 p.m. on Prime. Kids 16 and under get in free with every adult ticket purchased. The Galaxy are on the road in Colorado Saturday, (the game will be shown on tape-delay at 10 p.m. on Fox Sports West) as are the Sol who face Saint Louis Athletica.

Defending W-League champion Pali Blues, now a feeder team for the WPS L.A. Sol, will attempt to set a new world record for most people juggling a soccer ball at one time at its May 9 season opener.

The current record, according to the club, was set by 627 people in 2007 in Vienna, Austria.

The idea, naturally, is to raise the club’s profile, said Pali Blues General Manager Jason Lemire.

“Most people don’t realize it, but amateur teams like the Pali Blues are a lot like public radio – we only exist with the support of our community,” he said. “This is a chance for the soccer world to show that they support grass root organizations like the Pali Blues.”

The second-year term plays at Pacific Palisades High School. To register for the record attempt scheduled for half time, call Lemire at (310) 264-4649. More about the club is here.

*Mexico will play Guatemala June 28 in San Diego, Soccer United Marketing announced today, with tickets also going on sale today to Visa cardholders over at Ticketmaster. Tickets start at $25. Sales to the general public begins May 5.

The San Diego game comes four days after Mexico plays Venezuela in Atlanta just before the Gold Cup begins. From the SUM press release:

Mexico is no stranger to San Diego having played twice in the last two years in the Southern California soccer hotbed in front of sold-out crowds at Qualcomm Stadium. On Feb. 27, 2007 Mexico defeated Venezuela 3-1 in front of 63,328 fans before falling to Argentina last year on June 4 in front of 68,498 fans. Mxico and Guatemala have played each other a total of 27 times with Mexico leading the all-time series 17-4-6. Guatemala is lead by Chicago Fire midfielder Marco Pappa and former MLS star Carlos Ruz who now plies his trade for Olimpia of Paraguay.

The games will mark the U.S. debut of Mexican national team head coach Javier “el Vasco” Aguirre since his return to the bench this past April.

*For the second year in a row, KAZA Azteca 54 will air Chivas USA games this season. The eight scheduled Chivas USA home game broadcasts include this Saturday’s match against FC Dallas.

*It appears we can expect more Seattle fans to turn out en masse at Galaxy and Chivas USA games in Carson in the future. Great for the game atmosphere whether you’re a Sounders fan or not. Details here.

“It was a tough game. Different and difficult conditions, bouncy, windy. We fought but at the end we came short. I thought that they might have been a little bit luckier than us and may be slightly better than us and they got three points…I think we were a little soft on the play (the goal). They got a lucky bounce. We should’ve done better”.

The Los Angeles Sol forward’s free kick in the 36th minute led to Brazil’s equalizer, with Maurine putting home the rebound in front of a European record crowd of 44,825 fans today at Frankfurt’s Commerzbank-Arena.

Anja Mittag had opened the scoring for Germany in the 24th minute.

Marta and Brazil will face Sweden on the weekend in Gothenburg.

Marta returns to the U.S. in time for the Sol’s May 2 Women’s Professional Soccer match in Boston against the Breakers.

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